Wayzata High School students in suburban Minneapolis, Minn. recently had the opportunity to consult and brainstorm with Schwan’s Chef Collective chefs on new ideas for school lunches. With this work, The Schwan Food Company and its subsidiaries (Schwan) are continuing its commitment to adding excitement to frozen food with new chef-led events and partnerships through the Schwan’s Chef Collective initiative.

Schwan’s Food Service, Inc. is a food provider in the K-12 schools and has been committed to helping school foodservice professionals with menu options for more than 40 years. With the goal of continuing to deliver great-tasting food that satisfies student demands, Schwan’s Chef Collective will work with the Wayzata High School Director Mary Anderson to address common issues K-12 operators face. Schwan’s Chef Collective is looking to provide solutions that include easy ways to add variety and customization to drive student participation in the school’s lunch program.

During the event, students and chefs will come together and use Schwan’s Minh® sauces to help renovate and innovate school food offerings. Schwan values the input of students and operators in helping the company create on-trend sauce applications to add excitement to school lunch options. Minh® sauces include options of Asian-style flavors that have lower sodium levels than competitive offerings and are free of high fructose corn syrup, MSG, artificial flavors and dyes.

Wayzata High School is one of the largest high schools in the state of Minnesota and one of the largest restaurant operations in its town serving over 2,200 lunches per day.

“We see the Schwan’s Chef Collective evolving to meet the ever-changing tastes and expectations of our customers and consumers. To do so, we will continue to seek chef partnerships to evolve our current portfolio and create new food concepts,” said Stacey Fowler, senior vice president of product innovation and development for Schwan. “The Schwan’s Chef Collective is looking to customize sauce applications in the K-12 space by addressing challenges that foodservice operators in K-12 schools face, as well as renovating meal options and menu items with direct feedback from students.”

The Schwan’s Chef Collective was formed in 2015 to help Schwan on its journey to identify trends and bring delicious concepts to life. The group also supports the company’s ingredient simplicity initiative, an imperative to provide food that is free from unfamiliar ingredients and to bring a fresh perspective to frozen foods.